Non toxic finish.

[weber98]

I want to apply a finish to some wood to protect it from water and at the same time be safe for animals. Any ideas????????? Thank You Ron

[Max]

According to Finishing Guru Bob Flexner, "All finishes are safe for contact with food or children's mouths once the finish has fully cured (after about a month".)

Max D.

[SonomaProducts.com]

General Finishes Salad Bowl finish.

[SonomaProducts.com]

Do you have a reference to that statement. I'd love to confirm that. Really.

[George]

From past experience, you'll not believe it, but check 21CFR175.300 at the FDA.

[Jim]

What kind of water contact & what kind of animals? If it's a livestock water trough, you can use a wider range than if it is the canary's water dish. Inside or outside?

Jim

[Buck Turgidson]

The FDA is right up there with the EPA in terms of looking out for citizens.

[Hax Planx]

Flexner lists them as 'probably' safe. Naturally, he doesn't want to be sued if somebody decides they got sick off some or other finish. But I think there is way too much worry about this. All the major wood finishes have been around for a long time and I've never heard of anyone getting sick from a cured finish, nor even a frivolous lawsuit claiming somebody did. If any of them were the least bit dangerous, we would know all about it by now. Anyone ever heard of lead or asbestos? The polymerizing finishes would be impossible to get into the bloodstream, because they are nearly impervious to anything but the strongest chemical finish strippers. At the top of that heap would be polyurethane--the most chemical and chip resistant of the common finishes. I don't believe shellac is toxic at all. The only thing toxic about it is the methanol used to poison the ethanol solvent, which quickly evaporates. I can only assume our government believes that a few deaths are preferable to somebody using pure ethanol to get drunk (yuk).

[Hax Planx]

Choose whichever one you like. If any of them were toxic after curing, they would be banned. Polyurethane is very water resistant and chemically resistant, meaning that it can't be digested, even if large chips of it were eaten. Actually, the same is true for all of the film finishes, but polyurethane is the most inert of them all. Polyurethane isn't a good outdoor finish because it is broken down by UV light.

[George]

Snicker.

Ignorance must surely be bliss.

You have a Q-Ray "Ionized" Bracelet?

[Max]

To whom is that directed?

[Max]

Unless it contains UV blockers.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Unless you get the poly made for outdoors. Mine has held up for years with no problems.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

If you don't believe the statement, why would you believe the references? It would be better for you to do the research on your own so you can be sure it is truthful and correct.

[Larry Jaques]

On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 21:12:23 GMT, the inscrutable "Max" spake:

Probably you, Max.

(Don't you just love people who reply without any quoted reference, those who quote entire long posts then give a one-line reply, and those who top-post?)

[Phisherman]

[Andy Dingley]

Well it's obviously incorrect, when framed in such a broad manner.

"All finishes are safe for contact with food or children's mouths once the finish has fully cured (after about a month)."

The obvious counter examples are lead paint, marine anti-fouling paint, and lead-dried oil finishes. If we rephrase it as "All current finishes permitted for general use in Ruritania, according to the current rules of the RDA" then we might be better off - for your own local values of Ruritanian rulings.

And that's a month in a reasonably warm time of year.

[Andy Dingley]

Unless it's a dairy herd. There are problems for several fairly common and not particularly hazardous materials if they're likely to turn up in the milk.